KENNY DALGLISH and Craig Levein have hailed the true heroes of Scottish football at a glittering Grassroots Awards dinner.

On a humbling night at Hampden, backed for the ninth year by McDonald’s and the Sunday Mail, the Scotland legend and national team boss sang the praises of the unsung volunteers and coaches who keep the heart of football beating.

From community heroes to lifelong servants, from Mintlaw in the north to Kelso in the south, the pride and the passion of the game in every corner of the country was given their dues.

And 102-cap icon Dalglish said: “I’ve been there, I’ve been out forking pitches, putting up nets and doing what I could to see my own son got a game when he was younger – I know how much hard work goes in.

“If my own mum hadn’t washed the strips for our team, I might never have got a game myself as a kid.

“And the beauty of all the football I’ve seen through my association with this project over the past decade is that I’ve never yet seen a kid come off the park without a smile on their face.

“That’s the important thing in all of this, that they love the game, and it’s what everyone should be most proud of.”

The main award of the night, the Merit Award for Services to Grassroots Football, went to Robert McCallum of Gartcairn Community Football Club in Airdrie.

His success story has been an inspiration, taking their set-up from nothing in a community deprived of opportunity to 350 kids and rising and 43 qualified coaches in the space of five years.

They’ve never once turned away a kid on the basis of his or her ability – their entire ethos is if you want to play, you CAN play.

And with their girls’ section about to double in size, they’re already working with North Lanarkshire council to find the facilities to help them expand.

Yet in a speech that showed his own humility, Robert deflected the praise and insisted: “You never do these things alone.

“I have a lot of people to thank not least the SFA for inviting me on a fact-finding trip to Norway a while ago which really opened my eyes about what we could achieve as a club.

“And I look at Stenhousemuir, as a community club, getting an award and I think that’s great because having heard what they’ve done, it should be something every club and community in the country should follow.”

The night saw SFA chief executive Stewart Regan and head of football development Jim Fleeting join the tributes to the unstinting efforts of the army of volunteers.

Servants like 71-year-old Hugh Carswell, who has spent more than 45 years at the top of the amateur game, and Aberdeenshire’s John Peterson, with 41 years’ devotion to schools football, were lauded.

Levein said: “This is the third year at these awards. It fills me with hope that so many people are doing so much for football.”